Together Forever
by Hpfan98
Summary: Sixteen-year old Marlene finds herself spending a lot of time with Remus Lupin. The thing is, he's hiding a secret. Can she find out in time? Or will his secret affect their relationship? Rated T just to be safe.
1. Lexi

A wavy, brown haired girl by the name of Marlene had herself perched in front of the couch which was near the crackling fire in the common room. Her eyes were slightly shifty, as she would flinch at every noise that she heard.

Her eyes fell upon the small puppy that rested on one of the couch cushions. Marlene smiled meekly at her pet Beagle named Lexi. This same little dog who she had smuggled into Hogwarts. Marlene cringed slightly at the thought, as she rested her head in her hands.

Marlene wasn't one to act out, but thought maybe, just maybe, no one would find out about her little secret about bringing Lexi with her for her sixth year at Hogwarts.

Her friends, Lily, Taryn and the other sixth year girls knew about it but had all sworn not to tell. It was like their own dirty little secret.

It was hard for Marlene, hiding Lexi like this. Lexi still was a puppy and a noisy one at that, so Marlene was forced to bring her to the common room early in the morning, hoping that everyone would be sleeping and wouldn't notice.

Biting her lip, she looked around to make sure no one was around. It was five in the morning after all. And it was a Saturday. It was still very risky for her to bring Lexi down. Anyone could come down and see her. So, Marlene figured bringing Lexi with her to the common room on a Saturday morning would be safe enough.

She petted Lexi's head and stifled a yawn. Lexi let out a bark at the contact, startled and was immediately shushed by Marlene.

She suddenly heard footsteps coming down the guy's dormitories steps. Marlene's eyes widened as she scrambled to take a seat on the couch and threw a pillow over her puppy. Lexi merely tried to get it off of herself but to her dismay, was unsuccessfully.

Peering over to see who was walking down the steps, she watched as a boy with light brown hair and grim expression bounded down the steps. She recognized him to be the Lupin boy. Thinking for a bit, she remembered his name. Remus.

He paused short as he caught Marlene's eye, furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion.

She, on the other hand, hesitantly brought a hand up and gave a meek wave.

He shot her a curious look but waved back nonetheless.

Without saying anything, he walked over to her and opened his mouth to speak but shut up, absorbing what he was seeing.

The pillow that was on top of Lexi was scrambling around slightly and Marlene's awkward smile was none to comforting. It was a weird site to see in the early morning. He paused as he tried to piece together his words.

"Why is..that pillow moving?" he asked slowly, watching as her expression suddenly dropped.

"Uh, it's uh..a new spell I learned.." she withdrew slowly as she grabbed hold of the pillow.

He rose an eyebrow. "Are you uh, sure about that, Prince?" he asked, eyeballing the pillow.

"Yeah, uh huh, positive. Um, isn't time for breakfast? Gee I'm famished!" she murmured quickly.

He paused and shifted his weight to one foot, most likely in thought.

"Um..the pillow's moving again," he pointed out.

Marlene let out an exaggerated sigh. "Really, it's just a new spell is all.."

He sent her a look showing he wasn't convinced, releasing another sigh from her.

"Why ..why don't you just bugger off, Lupin?" She mumbled with a slight whine.

The boy blinked, craning his head slightly. "Well..I uh guess I should go to breakfast."

She nodded her head, feeling giddy on the inside that she got away with it.

She was proven wrong, as Lexi suddenly barked outloud.

Color drained from Marlene's face as she snapped her head towards the pillow. Biting her lip, she let out a cough. "Woah, excuse me. I just had a horrible cough."

Remus opened his mouth to speak but Lexi suddenly popped from under the pillow and leaped off the couch. Without hesitation, she approached Remus and sniffed his feet for a moment, and began whining and pawing at his legs, begging to be pet.

Marlene put her face in her hands and groaned.

Remus's eyes shifted from Lexi to Marlene then back at Lexi. He bent down and gingerly patted Lexi's head. "How'd this dog get here?" he asked in a quiet, slight teasing voice, giving Marlene a knowing look.

She let out a defeated sigh and sat down in front of him, smiling sheepishly. "I had to bring her with me. I just got her over break. It was instant chemistry!" She said softly. He let out a laugh and stopped petting Lexi. Lexi, however, let out a sound of disappointment.

Marlene bowed her head slightly and went to pick up Lexi. "Please don't tell?" she practically begged as she got Lexi in her arms. The pup yipped and yapped, jumping out of Marlene's arms as she sought after Remus again. She seemed to love Remus. Marlene sent him a strange look and tried to grab Lexi again.

"She's usually shy around new people, but she seems to love you. I wonder why.." She mused, trying to keep Lexi from bothering Remus. She again jumped away and growled at her, while seeming to rub against Remus like a cat.

Marlene seemed taken aback slightly at Lexi's growling and looked up to see Remus who seemed very uncomfortable.

"I uh, better go to breakfast. You know, I don't want to miss out on the food," He said, standing up. Marlene stared up at him.

"I doubt anyone ate anything, it's still early. You can still sit with me if you'd like." she offered as Lexi whimpered, pawing at Remus's legs. He brought a hand up and scratched the side of his head, beginning to walk backwards.

"Thanks but..I'm pretty hungry and well I want to be first," he sputtered and quickly walked out of the common room, shutting the door behind him. Lexi howled, pawing at the door afterwards.

Marlene stared at the door for a moment and went to grab Lexi. "What has gotten into you?" She asked out loud and looked at the door. "Why do you love Lupin so much?" She mused mostly to herself and looked down at Lexi, who seemed to be a bit anxious.

Stopping to look around the room, she heard that people were beginning to wake up and were on their way downstairs. Quickly, she ran up the steps to the sixth years girls dormitories and paused, seeing all the girls asleep.

Quietly, she walked to the loo. Opening up a trunk that sat near the back of the room, which had holes through the top, she put Lexi inside.

"It will only be for a while, I'll let you out after breakfast." Marlene said and patted Lexi's head. Shutting the trunk, she stood up.

Walking back to the room, she sat down on her bed. She was still wondering why Lexi loved Remus so much. It took Lexi a few days to actually let Marlene's roommates just pet her. What was so different about Remus? The thought remained with her as she found herself laying down and snuggling under the covers.


	2. The Library

Marlene's eyes opened at the sound of people talking in the common room downstairs. She paused, sitting up. Lily was laying on her own bed, reading a one of her textbooks. "When did I fall asleep?" Marlene asked, her voice coming out raspy, from having just woken up. Lily glanced over at her and thought for a moment. "After you brought Lexi back up here with you. It was really early. You must have fell back to sleep."

Marlene rubbed at her eyes, a yawn escaping her lips. "I'm still tired.. what time is it?"

Lily paused and sat up, looking at her watch. "1:24"

Marlene sighed, standing up. "I might as well study for the test tomorrow."

Lily laughed, nodding her head. "Good luck. And I'll let Lexi out for a bit later."

Marlene nodded her head and waved goodbye. "Thanks. Just make sure none of the guys are down in the common room." She picked up her brown knapsack full of her homework and textbooks and preceded on her way downstairs. Without looking at anyone, she sauntered out of the room, still tired. "How am I still tired?" She gave a meek sigh and shuffled her feet as she walked down some steps. Taking a turn around a corner, she almost bumped into a first year.

"Sorry!" she called out behind her as the first year merely grumbled in disgust.

She quickly made a turn into the library and sighed. Her body drooped slightly, seeing as all the tables in the front of the library were taken. She cursed softly under her breath and walked to the back of the library. Deciding to sit in the only unoccupied table there, she put her stuff down and took out her charms textbook.

Flipping to a random page, she rested her head on her hand and began to read.

Marlene bit her thumb's fingernail as she turned the page in her text book. Her eyes skimmed through the page as she let out a sigh. She stifled a yawn and laid her head down on her book, closing her eyes. "I'll just sleep here in the library.." she whispered to herself.

She had almost accomplished this goal, but she suddenly heard someone drop their stuff next to her and sit down in the seat across from her. She stayed still for a moment, wishing whoever this was would just leave.

"Alright, Prince?" She recognized the voice. Peering up through her eyelashes she shrugged in reply to Remus.

"Tired. What are you doing here?" She decided to sit up. She only watched him, a bit curious as to why he was here.

"Well, I was studying for a potions test tomorrow." He pointed towards his text book.

Marlene looked thoughtful for a moment and cocked her head to the side. " I see, but..why'd you come over to me?"

He gave a meek shrug. "I wanted to know something."

"Oh?" Marlene rested her head in her hands and watched him.

He scratched his head and nodded. "Uh, what's your dog's name?"

Marlene immediately shushed him. She didn't want anyone else to know about Lexi. "Don't be so loud, I don't want Madam Irma Pince hearing."

He gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I just wanted to know. To get to know you."

She seemed a bit taken-aback by this. "Um, her name's Lexi. I thought it was pretty funny how she loved you so much." He nodded his head, a sudden look of dread crossing his face.

"You okay?" Marlene tilted her head slightly and gave him a curious look. He nodded again and stood up.

"How about I escort you back to the common room?" He asked out bluntly.

Marlene blinked and stared at him. Was he joking?

"This isn't a joke, right?" She asked as a small smile made it's way to his lips. "No, of course not."

She laughed and nodded her head, standing up. Picking up her things, she gave him a grin. "Sure, you can "escort me""

She stood up, shoving her textbook into her bag. Throwing her nap-sac over her shoulder, she offered her hand to him. "My dear sir, let us begin our journey to the delightful dormitories," she sang, adding a fake accent to her voice.

He stared at her for a second and paused. Bringing his hand out, he grabbed hers and bowed his head to kiss it. "I say, I believe you're right. Let us get a move on, madam."

They intertwined their arms and began marching out of the room. They stood silent for a moment as they walked up the steps.

"Oi! Remus!" A voice calls from behind them. A boy with slightly long, neat black hair and haughty figure, a strong jaw and glowing amber eyes strolled around the corner, a roguish smirk upon his lips.

Remus withdrew his arm from Marlene's and turned around. "Padfoot, Hey!"

The boy walked up to them, his hands in his pockets. "Ooh, who's this fine young lady?" He asked in a smooth manner.

Marlene stared at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "We're in the same house." She stated. "For seven years." She added.

He blinked, but it didn't wipe the lopsided grin from his face or prevent him from holding out a hand to Marlene. "Well, Sirius Black at your service."

Bringing a hand out to shake his hand, she gave a meek smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm Marlene Prince." She mumbled, deciding to just play along.

"Soo..what were you two lovebirds doing?" Sirius asked, nudging Remus slightly in the ribs.

Remus seemed taken-aback but shook his head. "I was just bringing her to the common room is all."

Sirius brought a hand up to his chin. "Hmm..whatever you say." He snickered as he gave a teasing grin.

Marlene rolled her eyes, as she pushed past them. The boys look up at her questionably as she merely shrugged her shoulders. "You were talking too long." She concluded sheepishly.

Remus, being the gentleman he was, didn't want her to walk alone, so he gave Sirius a playful shove and began walking up to Marlene.

Sirius ran up to them and draped his arms over their shoulders. "Don't you smell the love?" He asked as he gave a lopsided grin.

Marlene gave him a small shove, but couldn't help hide the blush from her face. "See, she's blushing too." Sirius cooed, poking at her cheeks.

Cursing under her breath, she pushed herself away from him and walked up to the fat lady portrait. Muttering the password, she walked in.

Lexi ran towards her, nearly knocking Marlene off her feet. Barking happily, she ran over to Remus, begging to be pet. Marlene's eyes bugged out of her head as she scrambled to pick her up.

Lily came bounding down the stairs of the girls dormitories, out of breathe. "I'm so sorry Marlene, Lexi just randomly shot out of the room!" She stated but stopped short. "Eh? What are you doing hanging out with them?" She said, her voice dripping with annoyance.

She was staring at Remus and Sirius.

"Uh, who?" Marlene asked, playing stupid as she finally managed to calm Lexi down and grab her.

Lily pointed at the two boys. "Those marauders." She stated as if it were obvious. Marlene shrugged sheepishly.

She felt as though she got caught doing something bad by her own mother. Lexi suddenly began to growl. Marlene blinked, looking down at her. "Lexi?"

Lexi stared directly at Sirius as growls and snarls escaped her lips. Sirius twitched slightly. "Dogs aren't allowed here, Prince." He stated, his playful-ness slightly gone.

Marlene nodded her head. "I know I know, please don't tell." She muttered.

Lily took Lexi from Marlene. "I'll bring her upstairs, you should come too. I don't want you hang out with the mates of scum." She said as she gave the boys a glare. Turning on her heel, she stomped up the stairs.

Marlene had no idea what to say.

Remus coughed awkwardly and scratched his head. "Well, uh we better go." He ended bluntly.

They seemed to be uncomfortable. Marlene nodded her head meekly. "Sorry. For Lily." She mumbled, as she sauntered upstairs.

Lily was sitting on her bed with Lexi and seemed to be annoyed. "Why were you hanging out with them?" She asked as Marlene took a seat next to her.

"Eh, Lupin offered to walk me up here. And Black tagged along. Nothing special. And, to be honest, they're not that bad." She stated but regretted it.

"What? They're jerks! Especially that Potter." She ranted and Marlene sighed, laying down on her bed. "And another thing!" Lily ranted on and on about the Marauders. Marlene zoned out, completely unaware as to what Lily was saying.


	3. Lost

"Lily, I know! I understand you don't like them. I was just.." Marlene shrugged. "Lupin asked if he could walk me back to the common room and Black joined us. It was nothing for you to freak out about ."

Stopping mid rant as Marlene spoke, Lily got a hurt expression on her face. "Well, then.."

Marlene sighed, her eyes silently pleading. "I'm sorry, I just..I wasn't doing anything with them. Lupin and I just talked and stuff. He's not that bad you know. And black, he just came up. You know he's not that bad because he's Taryn's boyfriend. I mean, really Lily? It's not like I'm going to date Lupin any time soon. Bloody hell, I don't think ever! I just was talking to him."

Lily nodded slowly after-wards and sat on her own bed, sighing. "I'm sorry, I just..I don't want you to get hurt by them or anything. It's like.." she paused, looking up to see she still had Marlene's attention. "It's like Lupin is hiding something. He's always gone on the night of a full moon. They say he's sick but..I just don't think you should get mixed up with him and the rest of the Marauders, Marlene."

Marlene watched her for a moment and sighed. "I know I know, but he's nice. Maybe he is sick or something, it's not really our business. And he's just a guy I talked to today, no need to freak out. We probably wont even talk much later on. You probably scared him off with your yelling."

Standing up, she gave a little snort but sent Lily a distressed look. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take Lexi out on a walk. No one will probably be up so, goodnight. Maybe Lupin will be there." She added in jokingly but received a glare from Lily.

"Ah ha.. sorry. Joking." Marlene muttered as she grabbed Lexi from her cage. Without waiting for Lily's response, Marlene busted out of the room and out of the common room, speedily walking out of the school so no one could see her.

As she put Lexi down on the grass, Marlene hooked up a leash to Lexi's collar and stood up, enjoying the nights air chilly that seemed to hug her body. Before she could fully enjoy the night time's weather, she heard someone's footsteps behind her.

"Oi, Marlene!" Marlene's roommate, Taryn shouted out a couple of yards away.

Marlene turned quickly, watching as two green eyes made their way to her. Looking down at Lexi, who was running around in circles eagerly, Marlene's eyes flickered back up to Taryn's appearing face.

"What are you doing out here so late? You can get caught." Marlene whispered, breaking the night's silence.

Taryn laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "I should be asking the same thing, no? Lily told me about you hanging out with Remus and Sirius. She seemed pretty heated. Well, as heated as Lily could get." She paused, tapping her chin with her index finger. "What _were_ you doing with those two?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows and laughed.

Marlene scoffed, crossing her arms as she let go of the leash she held. Not even fully realizing it, thinking that Lexi would stay put.

"We didn't do anything! I was in the library and Lupin decided to talk with me. Later on, Black tagged along." Marlene muttered, pouting slightly.

"Ah, what did you two do after you 'talked'?" She smiled with a hint of humor.

"I..we didn't do anything like that!" she gasped, shooting Taryn a disgusted look.

Taryn laughed out loud, her arms limply falling to her sides. "I know, I'm just teasing. It's just unusual for our little Marlene to fall in love."

A rosy coloring heated up Marlene's face as she groaned in annoyance.

"I just talked to the boy! I don't even know him that well. I _don't _like him like that." she pointed out.

Taryn huffed under her breathe and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I think it's getting kind of late. I'm going to run back inside. You should too, soon. Who knows? You might run into Remus." she said, laughing as she ran off before Marlene could react.

She crossed her arms as she watched Taryn's figure slowly descend in the darkness.

"Hah, she can be funny, huh Lexi?" Marlene mused, giving a snort of laughter.

She paused for a moment, her eyes going wide. Her head snapped down to the ground. "Lexi? Uh..ha ha..Don't scare me. Come on, show yourself. Bark..please?" she rushed out anxiously, getting on her hands and knees and began squinting through the darkness.

"Lexi!" she couldn't help it as she gasped her name, her body shaking slightly with worry.

A sudden idea hit her as she reached for her wand, putting it in front of herself as she muttered a spell.

"Lumos.."

The tip of her wand instantly glowed. Swinging it around herself, she gasped at what she saw. Nothing.

Getting to her feet, she aimlessly began running in any direction, her wand pointed outwards. "Lexi, where are you?"

Trying to avoid any noise, Marlene tipped toed up the 6th years girls dorm's steps. Her face which was pale with her dark slightly sunken-in eyes which had lost their bright sparkle. Her body was sore, her feet desperately calling out to her to sit.

As she finally made it up, she sauntered over to her bed, getting under the covers and began to sulk.

This was it. She was going to get caught and expelled and..

Before she could continue to worry, her eyes felt heavy as she suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

"Marlene, wake up. You've already missed breakfast and classes will be starting soon." Lily's mother-like voice spoke, breaking up Marlene's dreams.

Marlene groaned, looking at the ceiling"I..uh..I don't feel good. I think I'm going to..just..um..skip classes today." She muttered with a groan.

Lily paused for a moment as she pressed her palm against Marlene's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever or anything. What's really wrong?"

Not speaking, Marlene rolled over and bit her lip. "Cramps. They're horrible." she groaned, holding her stomach.

Lily gave a sympathetic smile as she nodded. "Alright, I'll try to pick up some of your work today from the classes we have together, okay? I hope your cramps go away." Lily flashed another smile and was off.

"Well, Marls, I'm off to class too I guess." Taryn began as she threw one of her textbooks into her bag.

Marlene nodded and for extra measure, groaned again, which was loud enough for the other remaining girls in the room to glance at her.

Taryn threw her head back and laughed, patting Marlene's arm. "Hope you feel better. See ya later!"

She too, was gone before Marlene even blinked. The remaining girls in the room smiled sheepishly at Marlene as they walked out, sympathizing with her and her cramps.

Rolling over onto her side, Marlene _knew _she should have been looking for Lexi, but she _did_ search all night, so she thought it wouldn't hurt for her to get a little sleep. All the lying about cramps was tiring, not to mention she barely got a wink of sleep the night before.

Her eyes peeled open suddenly as she drew out a sigh. "What am I doing? I can't sleep! No matter how tired I am, I have to find Lexi!"

Tumbling out of bed, her legs tangled up in her quilt, she gave a yawn.

After wasting a few minutes trying to get herself out of the quilt, she nearly fell over as she got to her feet.

Scratching the side of her head, she realized that she didn't even change out of her clothes from last night.

She shook her head and decided to leave her hair down as she threw on her Hogwarts robe, not really caring about her attire.

As she slowly walked to the corridors of Hogwarts, she realized how much of a ballsy move this was for her; skipping class to find her smuggled puppy. She thought it was safe to say that if she got caught, she wouldn't be using magic for a while. She grimaced at the thought, absentmindedly biting her lip.

Coming around one of the corners, she stopped walking for a moment and began thinking. Where was she going to search?

"Okay..she ran away outside..so..I should search around the school." she rambled to herself quietly as her feet clicked with each step she took.

With every whisper or step she heard, she instantly stiffened and hid behind a wall. She chuckled to herself as she finally made it outside, not being seen.

"Blimey, I feel like I'm an agent or whatever those muggle things Lily talks about." Marlene muttered to herself as her eyes scanned through the open field behind the school.

Nothing. She grimaced and began walking around the property.

Crouching slightly behind a nearby bush, she squinted her eyes against the sun's rays and silently searched with her eyes for any dog out in the open.

She suddenly noticed two figures come into her view which appeared to be on their way to the school from the grounds.

Marlene narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out who the two figures were, when they finally came close enough for her to see.

She soon realized one of the figures was Madam Pomfrey.

What? Why was she walking from somewhere so far away from the school?

Marlene knitted her eyebrows together in confusion as her eyes suddenly bulged out of her head. The person next to Madam Pomfrey; a boy which had familiar light brown hair, clothes somewhat neat, a tired and worn out expression written across his features. Remus.

"..What's he.." Marlene began but stopped as she got a closer look of him. He seemed badly beaten up of some sort, scratches ran down his face which were caked with blood. A few bite marks were shown on his hands as well.

Her eyes widened as she began thinking over what she had just saw as the two walked into Hogwarts. Maybe that was why he was acting weird like Lily had said?

She gasped when she pieced together his symptoms. He must be getting bullied! She frowned, feeling sorry for him.

"That must be the reason why he's never there on a full moon, maybe he's fighting with another boy..I'll make sure to be nicer to him later," she muttered softly under her breath as she continued on with her search for Lexi.


	4. Amos Diggory

Realizing how risky it was getting for her, Marlene decided to go back to the girl's room.

With one last look around the school, she ran up the stairs, straight to Griffyndor tower.

As she trudged her way to the portrait hole, Marlene watched as the rather plump lady in the portrait had a stern look across her face.

"Why are you not in class?" the lady asked, much to Marlene's dismay.

"I don't feel good." she lied.

The plump lady in the portrait narrowed her eyes. "Password?" she asked, not fully believing Marlene.

"Pig Snout." Marlene murmured halfheartedly as the portrait flew open.

Climbing through, Marlene trudged over to the couch and collapsed onto it. She covered her eyes with her hands and sighed.

She groaned softly as her eyelids began to feel heavy and slowly she fell into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, a hand jostled her awake. "Hey Prince, sleepy?" The voice of Sirius teased.

Marlene's eyes snapped open and was surprised to see Peter and Sirius looming above her.

Rubbing at her eyes, she sat up. Taking a slight scooch away and shot them a curious look.

Seeing the confusion on her face, Sirius sat on the arm of the couch. "Classes ended half an hour ago."

"Oh." she mused, as she stood up.

Flicking her eyes across the room, she yawned. "Do you know where Lily is? She wouldn't be happy if she found me with the two of you."

Sirius waved his hand at her dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

"Y-yeah, we d-didn't see her a-as we walked h-here." Peter piped in.

"Hey that reminds me, where are the other two? Potter and Lupin?" Marlene asked as she attempted to pat down her unruly hair.

"James is probably coaxing Evans to go out with him. And I reckon Lupin's sleeping in the boy's room." Sirius stated as he acknowledged the staircase to the boy's dormitories with a jerk of his chin.

She nodded her head slowly. "Oh. Why are you talking to me anyway? Don't take this the wrong way, but in all the years we've been in this house, none of you granted me with any of your attention."

Sirius paused as a playful smirk spread across his face. "Oh you know, you just seemed..nice." He reasoned.

Marlene scoffed. "Why do I think that's a load of a rubbish?"

"Because it is." Peter squeaked.

Sirius growled slightly, almost like a dog, and elbowed Peter's ribs. Peter squirmed slightly and mumbled out a sorry.

"Our mate Remus seems to be fond of you. We saw you having a snooze, so we thought we should come over and get better ..acquainted."

Marlene rose her eyebrows. "Ah..okay then. Wait, Lupin's 'fond' of me?"

Sirius barked out a laugh in reply, grabbing Peter's arm as he dragged him behind him towards the portrait hole.

"Oi, wait! What about.." Marlene muttered out, furrowing her eyebrows together.

The slamming of the door told her they had left.

She crossed her arms in frustration as she marched up to the girl's dormitories.

Taryn laid sprawled out on her own bed with a quill and notebook.

"Potions essay?" Marlene asked as she took a seat on the edge of her Taryn's bed.

Taryn looked up, a slight pout etched across her face. "Yes." she muttered glumly. "How are your cramps?" she asked as she brought her attention back to her essay.

"They're gone." Marlene replied, absentmindedly twirling her hair.

Taryn scoffed slightly as she read her paper over. "Who assigns a five page essay due the next day?"

Marlene laughed, laying down on her own bed. "When are you going to dinner?"

Taryn shrugged, getting herself into a cross legged sitting position. "Soon I guess."

Getting to her feet, Marlene tied her hair up into a bun and turned on her heel. Stopping for a moment, she looked over her shoulder. "I'm going to see where Lily is, and then go to dinner. I haven't had a bite to eat at all today."

Taryn nodded as she began writing and adding more to her essay. "Okay, I'll meet up with you guys later."

Continuing to walk out of the girl's room, Marlene left the common room quickly and began walking down the steps.

As she rounded a corner, she came in contact with someone's chest and took a quick step backwards.

"Blimey, I'm sorry, I've been running into everyone toda- Amos?" Marlene sputtered slightly, seeing her former ex boyfriend.

His brown hair was combed neatly, his Hufflepuff robes shown proudly. Amos Diggory gave her a cheeky grin.

"If it isn't Marlene." He mused, crossing his arms across his chest.

She released a sigh. "Mm, yes, I was at to go eat di-"

"How are you doing? Ever since you dropped me like a fly, I haven't heard from you."

"You know it's not like that, you were cheating on me."

"Bollocks, why would I cheat on you?" he paused. "It would be a stupid thing to do."

She scoffed, brushing past him. "Uh huh."

Grumbling to himself, he followed after her.

Sending him a glare, she opened the door to the great hall and walked her way over to where Lily sat.

She sat in the chair across from Lily and sighed, sensing that Amos still loomed over her.

Lily looked up at him and stopped chewing for a moment. "Amos? What are you doing over here?"

Sliding in the seat next to Marlene, he gingerly rubbed her arm. "Oh you know, just spending time with Marlene."

Marlene instantly shrugged herself away from his touch and dished herself some rice. "Bug off."

"Oh great, look who decided to show up." Lily murmured across the table, her eyes fixated near the great hall's doors.

Without turning around, Marlene was almost positive it was the James, Sirius, Peter and Remus judging by the disgusted look on Lily's face.

"Just ignore him, Lily. James's probably going to come over, ask you out and leave."

Lily scoffed, nodding her head slightly as the boys came over.

"Blimey, I think you get more beautiful every day, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes, sending a glare James's way.

James, unfazed, took a seat next to Lily with Sirius at his right. Remus slide in the seat on Lily's left with Peter next to him.

"Bugger off, Potter. You and your little friends."

"Oi, feisty today, aren't you?" James mused.

Sirius smirked, laughing at Lily's reaction. She sighed in annoyance, sending Marlene an annoyed stare.

Marlene nodded her head slightly and peered over at Remus. His head was buried in his book, a small wisp of hair slightly in his eyes. He instantly looked up at her and smiled. She returned it and shifted her gaze back to her rice.

Before she could understand what was happening, she felt something, or someone inch their way up her thigh. Snapping her head up, she glared at Amos.

He reluctantly took his hand away as he gave a smug smirk in reply.

Furious, Marlene grumbled some unladylike words, loud enough for even lily to hear. She released a soft sigh as she saw Lily was too preocpied to hear, but Sirius and Remus shot her a look. She shifted her eyes towards her plate, scooting away from Amos slightly. She soon felt it again, something inching their way over her body, only this time it wasn't her thigh but her behind.

Abruptly standing up, she brought her hand up and smacked Amos across the face.

"What do you think you're doing? Touching me like that? I am _not_ your play thing!"

By now, Lily and James had stopped bickering, and were staring at Marlene, along with a few other members at the table. Remus put his book down, slightly glaring at Amos.

Amos's face paled slightly, as he stood up. Snaking his arm around her waist, he sent her a look. "Hey hey, calm down. It's cool."

Putting her hands on his chest, she shoved him backwards. "Don't touch me! Leave me alone."

Giving him one last glare, she sauntered out of the great hall. She could barely hear Lily yelling at Amos as the door shut behind her.


	5. The Lake

The first thought that came to her head was the lake. Shoving past some people in a reckless manner, she quickly left the school. Squinting her eyes, she watched the lake and sighed, jogging over to it.

As she came to a stop, she bit her lip as she looked towards the water. Taking a few steps closer to the water, she squatted down and put her hand in the water.

Memories began making their way to her brain, making her shut her eyes in frustration.

"_Why are you looking at me like that?" Marlene asked softly, watching Amos with his sneaky grin. _

_Without saying anything, he tackled her and sent the two of them into the water. _

_She squealed, clutching his arms in surprise. When the two came up to the surface of the water, he was laughing with a playful grin._

_She splashed some water at him, laughing all the while. "What do you think you're doing!" she squealed._

_He laughed, cupping her face with one hand and brought his lips to hers. "Having fun." He whispered with a grin._

Her hands sprang up to her eyes as she found herself choking out a sob. She laid her head on her knees as tears ran down her rosy cheeks. "B-bloody prick.." she whispered to herself as she watched some of her tears drop into the water.

She stood up and began wiping at her eyes, but couldn't stop the strangled gasps that she released.

_Snap_

She brought her head up at the sound of a stick breaking.

Quickly, She wiped away the remaining tears on her cheeks as she heard someone approach her.

"Hey Prince, you okay? I wanted to check on you after ..what happened in there."

Taking a sharp turn towards the voice, Marlene chewed on her bottom lip.

"Of course, I'm fine.." she mumbled, rubbing at one of her eyes.

Remus stood with a concerned look across his face as he took a step towards her.

"You were crying." he pointed out, seeing her red eyes.

She shook her head quickly, wiping at her eyes. "No! Of course not."

He watched her for a moment and nodded, walking to the edge of the lake.

"You know, Evans really went off on Diggory. So did James." he began as he looked over at her.

She laughed a bitterly and walked up next to him. "That must have been a site to see."

He nodded, a small smirk forming on his lips. "Believe me, it was."

"What did he do exactly?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Marlene gave a meek shrug. "It's embarrassing."

He rose an eyebrow at her. "How so?"

She twiddled her fingers slightly, giving off a nervous laugh. "Well he, uh, kind of..touched my thigh and.." she paused. "My bottom."

Remus paused, taking a look at her and cracked a tiny smile. "Is that it? You had me worried he did worse."

She huffed in response, crossing her arms. "But..but.." She stopped short and began to childishly pout.

He laughed, smiling at her. "I understand. What happened between the two of you, though? You didn't seem fond of him from the start."

"He and I used to go out. I found him cheating on me once, and I broke up with him. He told me he wasn't happy about it, because I ran into him and..." she paused.

He nodded his head and flashed her a concerned look.

She looked down at the ground and sighed. "I feel like I shouldn't have broke up with him sometimes. I guess I feel lonely sometimes."

"What? He cheated on you, you're better than him. You shouldn't feel bad for leaving him."

She paused, taken-aback and looked up at him with a curious look. "R-right. Thanks."

He smiled meekly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Abruptly wrapping her arms around his middle, she placed her head in the crook of her neck.

He tensed and returned the hug hesitantly.

"T-thank you. You're t-too nice. I f-feel like no one l-likes me anymore for some reason." she stuttered, hiding her face from him.

Pulling her away from him gently, he furrowed his eyebrows with worry.

"You're..crying?"

She shook her head meekly and tried to rub away her tears, but he grabbed hold of both of her hands.

"I-I'm sorry..I.." She began but stopped, as he let go of one of her hands.

He hesitantly brought up one of his hands and wiped away her tears, watching her face with a stoic expression.

Her breath hitched in her throat, staring up at his eyes as he leaned in close; his breath barely touching her lips.

"R-Remus?"

He suddenly stopped for a minute, letting go of her. "I uh, better get back to the common room, you know? I'll ..see you later..Prince."

She stared at him, a hurt expression shown visibly over her features. She felt as if she had been slapped as she watched him jog away from her.

"Blimey..what was that?" she muttered to herself in frustration.


	6. Laughter

"Marlene! Are you okay?" Lily nearly jumped at Marlene as she walked into the girl's dormitories.

"I..yeah."

Lily squinted her eyes at her slightly and smiled. "Okay. I yelled at Amos for you." She snickered at the though.

Marlene chuckled, tumbling onto her own bed.

Taryn sat on her own bed, which was positioned on the other side of Lily's, reading a book.

"What happened? No one would tell me." She whined as she shut her book with a thud.

Lily snickered, sitting crisscrossed on her bed as she watched Marlene.

Marlene flashed a meek smile. "Well, you remember Amos Diggory?"

Taryn looked thoughtful for a moment. "That Hufflepuff you used to date?"

Marlene nodded. "Well, I ran into him. And he followed me to dinner. While I was eating, I felt someone running their hand up my thigh." She paused. "I glared at Amos, knowing it was him and he stopped. But then, I felt someone touching my.." She sighed, embarrassed. "Bottom.."

Taryn's face slackened for a moment before she busted out laughing.

Lily sent her a look as Marlene sighed. "It's not funny!" She grumbled, crossing her arms.

Taryn stopped laughing for a moment and wiped away a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry it's just..BAHAHA!" she couldn't help it as she fell into another pit of laughter.

Other girls in the room turned their heads to look at the three girls, making Marlene sigh.

Rubbing her temples, Marlene's face shown with a perplexed expression.

Lily, on the other hand, bit her lip, a small smirk shown across her face.

"Lily, not you to-"

"I-I'm sorry Marlene, but but.." Lily stopped short, ending with her own stream of laughing.

Marlene huffed in annoyance, pouting.

"Would you guys shut up?" She found herself whining as Taryn suddenly fell over, rolling back and forth with laughter.

"Please?"

Lily, now laughing at Taryn, fell over as well, but ended up falling off her bed with a thud.

Taryn erupted with more laughter, followed by Lily.

"SHUT UP!"

The two girls immediately stopped, peering up at Marlene's face.

In simple terms, she was fuming.

"It's not funny! If a guy touched you like that, you wouldn't be laughing!"

Lily climbed herself onto her bed again and nodded sheepishly. "Yeah.." She paused as her voice dropped to a low growl. "If Potter ever did that..."

Taryn's face turned blank for a moment and nodded. "You're right..I think I would have to keep Sirius from getting himself sent to Azkaban if that would happen. Sorry, wont happen again."

Marlene nodded, feeling guilty for yelling but decided to go on with her story.

"Anyway..I kind of freaked out at him."

Lily nodded, and Taryn widened her eyes.

"I slapped him and yelled at him. Then I ran out to the lake."

Lily smiled slightly. "And then I began yelling at him. Potter even joined in, threatening to hex him."

Taryn laughed. "Probably another one of his plans to make you his."

Lily nodded, snickering.

"What were you doing at the lake?" Taryn asked, catching Marlene off guard.

She hesitated, pondering if she should tell them or not.

"Didn't Lupin go check on you or something?" Lily asked, as she laid down on her belly, facing Marlene. "He asked me where you were probably off to."

Marlene nodded. "Yes..and..something..curious happened."

"What did?" Taryn asked as she put her hair down from a ponytail.

Marlene paused, biting her lip. "He looked like he was..about ..to kiss me."

Lily sprang up suddenly. "He WHAT?"

Marlene quickly shook her head. "No no! He almost did! I don't know! Maybe he wasn't..he got close to me and and.."

Taryn grinned in delight. "Maybe you can go out with him and we can double date."

Lily sent her a warning glance and turned back to Marlene. "I'm going to straighten this boy out. It better not be a little Marauder trick." she grumbled, getting to her feet.

Marlene tensed slightly. What if it was all a trick? "No! He didn't kiss me though, he was comforting me. Don't say anything, please."

Lily watched her for a minute, before sighing and sitting back down on her bed.

"I swear, if he hurts you.."

"He wont. I wont get that close to him." Marlene mumbled.

Taryn gave a whimper. "I was looking forward to having another girl with me when I hang out with Sirius."

Marlene smiled slightly at her joking friend and nodded.

"Hey, what happened to Lexi?" one of the other roommates asked as she left the bathroom.

Marlene's eyes widened, jumping to her feet. "I forgot, Um, I have to go to the library for something!"

Running down the steps to the common room without waiting to hear what Taryn or Lily had to say, she paused short as she saw Sirius and Remus sitting near the fire talking.

Suppressing the whine that wished to come out , she walked down the remaining steps and crept towards the door.

"Heeeey! If it isn't Miss feisty."

Marlene paused, fighting with herself if she should make a run for it or stay. She sighed in defeat, turning her head slowly towards the two boys.

"I gotta say, you sure marked Diggory with that hand of yours." Sirius mused, giving her a thumbs up.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, avoiding Remus's stares.

"What are you doing out so late, anyway?" Sirius asked, stretching his legs out over the arm of the chair.

"That's none of your business." She found herself saying. She cringed slightly, suddenly feeling as though she was being mean to everyone.

"Touchy, I see. How about my mate Moony here, escort you to where you have to go."

"No..that..that wouldn't be necessary.."

Remus's shoulders fell at her words, peering down at the ground.

Sirius noticed this, and stood up. Grasping Remus's wrist, he pulled him up.

"A girl like you shouldn't be on their own on a night like this. Right?" He shot her a lopsided grin.

She glared at him. "And what's so different about tonight?"

Sirius pondered this for a moment. "Well it'd be very out tonight."

She took her wand out from her cloak and sent him a look. "I can use Lumos."

Sirius shrugged. "It'd be a bit impolite to reject Remus, no?"

She glared, her voice dropping suddenly. "Fine."

Remus stood still, his eyes flickering from Sirius to Marlene.

He hesitantly walked over to her and swung the door open for her.

Walking through, Sirius gave one last thumbs up to Remus before he shut the door.

Marlene began walking, feeling a sudden tension rise between them.

He follower suit, the only noise sounding was their footsteps walking down the steps.

"Where are you off to?" he asked quietly.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm looking for someon- something."

Staring at the back of her head, he remained silent.

When they finally got to the bottom step, he opened his mouth to speak again.

"What are we looking for?"

she stopped walking for a moment. "Lexi."

He widened his eyes at her slightly. "Your dog? What happened?"

She sighed, deciding to be nice to him again. "She ran away. It's my fault."

He stood quiet as they began walking again.

"Where are we going to search?"

She meekly shrugged her shoulders, looking over at him.

"Outside? I'm not sure..I lost her yesterday. I searched for her this morning an- Hey..that reminds me."

He rose an eyebrow as the two walked outside.

"I saw you this morning..You seemed like you were beat up or something. Madam Pomfrey was leading you inside."

He stopped walking, a sudden anxious look across his face. "What?" he choked out.

Marlene turned towards him, laying her hand on his arm gingerly.

His eyes immediately watched her hand and flickered back up to her face.

"Are you getting bullied or something? If you are, we need to report it."

He released a sigh, pretending as if she caught him. "it was just a little brawl between me and a classmate."

Marlene watched him carefully, running her finger down a tiny scratch on his cheek absentmindedly. "You sure?"

he nodded quickly, almost too quickly, and murmured out a yes.

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I was being mean to you before." she mumbled as she began to walk again.

He watched he walked for a moment before following her. "It's fine. I probably left you confused before."

She shrugged sheepishly. "I guess."

He looked over at her silently and shifted his gaze towards the ground.

"You know, I appreciate you coming to comfort me today." she murmured as she bent down, looking through a bush.

He paused, putting his hands in his pockets. "It was nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

She stood up, wiping her hands on her skirt.

"I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach." she whispered as she turned, squinting her eyes through the darkness.

"Why?"

She shivered, as a gush of wind swept past them both.

"I..what if someone already found her?"

"They probably didn't, I mean, Professor Dumbledore would've contacted you already."

She nodded. "I suppose you're right."

"I think we should go back, It's almost time for us to be in our common room."

Marlene huffed quietly and squinted her eyes. "But Lexi.."

"I know, we'll look tomorrow. Okay?"

She found herself pouting like a child. "But but.."

He smiled slightly, grasping her forearm. "Come on, you need your sleep."

Caving in, she sighed and beg an to walk back in the school.

Walking beside her, the two remained silent.

"Marlene!"

Marlene stopped, followed by Remus as she turned around.

Amos stood, his arms crossed and mad expression written all over his face.

"Amos? What do you want?" she nearly whined as she spoke.

"An apology of course."

Remus stepped in front of Marlene, narrowing his eyes."I think she's the one in need of an apology."

Amos glared at Remus. "And who are you? Her new boyfriend? What a skank."

Remus glared back at him. "Says the guy who has the tendency to over indulge himself in the company of whores."

Amos stared at him, mouth agape. "Excuse me?"

"I believe you heard me."

Marlene grabbed Remus's arm gently. "Come on."

With one final glare, he reluctantly walked away with her.

When they finally left the presence of Amos, Marlene couldn't wipe the goofy grin off her face.

"That was bloody brilliant. Thank you"

He smiled meekly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was really nothing."

She scoffed, smiling up at him. "Well it meant something to me."

She noticed a small red tinge color his cheeks as she spoke, making her grin even more.

As they walked up the steps towards the portrait hole, Marlene found herself continuing to glance at him.

Peering over at her at the precise moment she looked over at him, he shot her a playful smile.

Staring at his smile, she forgot she was actually walking up stairs and tripped, falling forward.

His hands shot out, grasping her arm and waist, holding her up. "You okay?"

Embarrassed, she looked up in his eyes for a minute and adverted her gaze, getting out of his grip.

"Yes..thanks."

As they arrived to the portrait hole, the lady in the portrait scowled. "What are the two of you doing out so late?"

"We needed to..ask Professor Dumbledore about something."

The lady rolled her eyes. "Password?"

"Pig snout."

The door swung open and the two quietly walked into the common room.

"Well..goodnight." she murmured with a grin.

"Goodnight. Sleep well."

She nodded, walking up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Everyone was fast asleep as she crept over to her bed, not bothering to put her Pjs on.

* * *

><p>An Well? Bad? good? :D Please please please please review. I'm getting desperate for reviews at the moment. :) Thank you all for reading.


	7. Found

Her body woke with a jolt, forcing her into a sitting position. Scanning the dark room, she squinted her eyes. The room was still pitch black, the sun no even up yet.

Looking down at the alarm clock on the side table, she groaned. She was only asleep for an hour.

Pulling the covers back, she turned to the edge of the bed, her feet coming in contact with the cold wood flooring.

Looking down at her disheveled skirt and blouse, she sighed getting to her feet.

Adjusting her tie and skirt, she kept her robes on and left the room.

She was going to find Lexi tonight and she knew it.

When she was finally outside, she searched every inch and perimeter of the school. Nothing.

Now feeling a whine deep in her throat, she whispered Lexi's name out.

Nothing.

"No surprise there." She whispered to herself as she looked through every bush.

She gave up. She didn't know where else to look.

Slowly, she went up to her room as the sun began to come up.

The next thing she knew, she was off to class.

Wringing her hands in her lap, Marlene didn't dare look up at anyone, fearing the look on her face would raise questions from people. Her face, pale, save for the black circles under her eyes and the grim set of her mouth could set off just about anyone in the classroom to the current worries racing through her mind.

"Miss. Prince, Professor Dumbledore has requested to see you. You may be excused to leave now." McGonagall abruptly stated, causing Marlene's eyes to flash up towards her Professor, who was peering down at a piece of parchment curiously. Marlene hadn't even realized the first year who had shuffled in to give it to her or when the professor had paused in her lecture to take it.

"I..Yes Ma'am." Marlene mumbled, getting to her feet abruptly, her legs loudly scooting the chair backwards as she stood, earning a few looks from surrounding class mates. Collecting all her items, she threw them in her rucksack. Amos smirked at her as she walked past him, making her send him a look of confusion. She avoided the gaze from other onlookers as she tossed the bag over her shoulder and hesitantly sauntered out of the classroom.

Telling herself over and over again that she wasn't in trouble, she, in a daze, stopped walking. What if she was in trouble? What if ..what if she got shunned from Hogwarts or something. A look of dread masked her face as she covered her mouth with her hand.

Abruptly something rammed into her chest, leaving her breathless and surprised. Snapping her head up to see what had hit her, she saw cascades of long, wavy, dirty blonde hair giving off a surprising golden hue in the heavily lighted corridor and the eyes shining back at her were a clear, deep green. With her high cheek bones and a stubborn chin, the girl flashed a smile.

Marlene cracked a grin as she recognized her friend. "Oh! Taryn."

Panting, Taryn gave a laugh. "Oh hey, a bit late for class, aren't I?"

Giving her puzzled look, Marlene snickered. "A bit late? Class started half an hour ago."

The two girls laughed as Taryn tucked in her shirt and swept away some loose curls from her face.  
>Seeming to be catching up with Taryn, jogging up behind her, an out of breath Sirius looked at the two girls and gave a lopsided grin as his hands fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.<p>

Raising an eyebrow, Marlene put two and two together and smirked. "Oh, distracted were you?"

A light coloring brushed over Taryn's face, her eyes widening slightly. "yes,uh well-"

"Oh look you made her blush, Prince!" Sirius cuts in grinning and wrapped his arms around Taryn's waist, tugging her closer, playfully. Her face flushes a deeper red, swatting away his arms and she manages to stutter out, "We're a-already late so uh well, bye!" She takes Sirius's hand, who had just been winking, and takes off towards class.

Watching them leave, Marlene's smile faltered. _Professor Dumbledore_. She'd forgotten all about him.

"Crap." She whispered to herself as she began jogging towards his office.

Once she had entered the stair case and pushed her way into the main, circle headmaster's office Marlene was instructed by Dumbledore to take a seat in the chair set right in front of his desk, she hesitantly sat, chewing on her lips.

He watched her, gently folding his hands together as he observed the obvious nervous state of her. "Miss Prince, is this.." He paused for a moment as Marlene finally catches a glimpse of the the dog, _her dog, _seated just next to the schools headmaster's desk. "By any chance your dog?" He asked, finishing his question.

Marlene's eyes widened, quickly glancing away from Lexi and stared back at Dumbledore's calm, twinkling eyes.

"I..Uh.." She squirmed in her seat, avoiding his gaze. "W-why do you think it's my dog, Professor?.."

As to answer her question, he picked up the pup and set her on his desk, raising his hand to Lexi's collar. "Well, it says here on her collar: Lexi Prince." He paused, his eyes flashing over to Marlene. "And I am aware that your last name is, indeed, Prince."

Marlene's eyes trailed to the floor as she nodded her head. "I..I'm sorry. She's m-mine.."

Nodding his head slowly as she confessed, he smiled. "As you have not ever gotten in trouble this year, I'll let this go. But, I'm sorry, Lexi here will have to leave. Can she stay with your parents?" He stopped speaking as he watched Marlene's face redden slightly.

"But...sir.."

He sent her a knowing look, his face stern.

"Yes, Professor. Sorry.."

He nodded his head. "It's alright, Miss Prince. You will need to tell your parents to pick her up tomorrow morning. You will be able to say goodbye to her then, but for today, I'm going to keep her in here."

Marlene hung her head in shame and muttered out a yes.

"You may leave now, Miss Prince." He said as Marlene stood up and bit her lip. "I'm sorry again, Professor." She apologized as she crept out of the room.

Bounding down the last steps of the staircase, she moaned out in annoyance. She got caught. She thought she'd hide Lexi better but now she had to give her back to her parents. She let out a sigh as her shoes clicked under her as she jogged back to her Transfiguration class.

Sighing again as she arrived, she adjusted her tie slightly and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Bringing her hand up, she opened the door.

Stopping in her lecture, Professor Mcgonagall turned towards Marlene and gave a tight smile. "Glad to see you've returned, Miss Prince. Now if you will take your seat and open your textbook to page 124."

Marlene stared at her for a moment and nodded, dragging her feet with her to her desk, avoiding the concerned stares from both Lily and Remus.

As soon as class was over, Marlene practically ran out, knowing she was going to be bombed with questions from Lily and possibly Remus.

"Blimey! Marlene! Wait up!" Lily desperately cried out as she lost Marlene in the crowd of students.

Cursing under her breath, Marlene couldn't help but feel guilty for ditching Lily like that as she took a turn and ran smack into James.

"Oi, what's the rush, Prince?"

"Um, nothing." She answered, her voice sounding an octave higher.

He rose an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak but shut it.

"Whoa, Look at the time, I better be off." Marlene said before he could say anything else. She pushed past him politely and ran, hoping that Lily gave up looking for her.

Sitting on the couch in the common room, Marlene sulked as she looked at the crackling fire. She didn't feel like getting asked questions by Taryn up in the girl's dormitories and she thought Lily was off at the library. Maybe the Marauders were off somewhere causing trouble. So for now, She felt safe with all the other 3rd and 5th years who sat around the room, but was soon proven wrong when the common room door swung open.

"Marlene! Finally!" Lily's voice rang out through the quiet common room.

Marlene rose to her feet and watched as Lily put her hands on her hips and sent a mother-like glare Marlene's way.

James, Peter, Sirius and Remus piled into the room after her, making their way to the other side of the room, clearly eavesdropping.

"Sorry..I was just..catching up on my reading." Marlene replied half-hardheartedly soon after.

Lily scoffed, crossing her arms. "What happened with Professor Dumbledore? And you _were_ running away from me, Marlene. I'm not stupid." she stated with a stern look.

Marlene swallowed, and could have sworn she saw Sirius inching closer to get a better listen.

The room got quiet slightly, but some whispers erupted throughout the room.

"Well..um Lexi. She's found." Marlene muttered out sheepishly.

Lily smiled. "Really? That's great! But, what's that have to do with Professor Dumbledore?"

Marlene's eyes trailed downwards. "Um...Well..I didn't find her. Someone else did and ..they gave her in to Dumbledore. They..they caught me, and ..and I have to give her back to my parents tomorrow morning. Dumbledore probably wont even trust me anymore."

Lily's arms fell limply to her sides. "Bloody...Oh Marlene, I'm sorry. I should have known."

Marlene nodded with a sad smile. "No, it's okay. It's just.. I feel.." She paused. "I feel irresponsible. Everything you do is perfect and everyone, even the professors, think you're bloody brilliant. Even I think you're perfect. But me? No, not me, I'm probably frowned upon. I'm just.."

She trailed off when she realized how squeaky her voice was sounding.

She didn't even care to realize that she was actually releasing strangled sobs and that tears were flowing down her cheeks.

She didn't have the slightest clue what was making her cry like this.

Bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, she took a step away from Lily and watched as everyone in the room got quiet and brought their attention to her.

Remus took a step forward but James held him back, feeling as though this was between Lily and Marlene.

"Marle-"

Marlene shook her head as she pushed past Lily and stalked up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Knowing Lily would follow her, she ran into the loo and locked the door behind her and leaned her back against it.

Taking in a deep breath, Marlene walked over to the sink and splashed some water onto her face.

"Where did Marlene go?"

Marlene paused at the sound of Lily's voice.

"I think she ran into the loo." the voice of Molly Prewett replied.

"What happened to her?" Taryn was now speaking and Marlene sighed.

Walking to the shower, she put it on to drown out all the noise.


	8. Cry

Marlene turned towards the mirror, staring at her reflection with an annoyed expression. What has gotten into her?

Staring down into the sink, she took in a deep breath and turned towards the shower. Pressing her palm against the shower knob, she hesitantly turned the water off.

As soon as the water paused, there was a frantic knock on the door.

"Marlene?" Lily's voice called from the other side of the door.

Marlene grabbed a lock of her hair and found herself staring at the door. "Lily...go away, please."

"Don't make me unlock this door, Marlene." Lily threatened.

Marlene scoffed, walking over to the door. "Can't I have some time to be alone?" she snapped.

Lily remained silent for a minute and sighed, loud enough for Marlene to hear on the other side of the door.

"Marlene, please. I just want to make sure you're okay."

Seeming to be fighting with herself, Marlene gingerly grabbed the door handle. Swinging it open, Lily took a step back in surprise.

"See? I'm okay!" Marlene snapped.

Lily shot her a concerned look. "I just..wanted to see if you were alright."

"I'm fine! You're making a big deal out of nothing!"

Lily hesitated and shook her head. "You were sobbing in the common room. This isn't 'nothing'."

Pushing past Lily, Marlene stormed out of the girl's dormitories and left the common room without a word.

"Marlene, wait!"

Marlene huffed in annoyance as she stomped down the steps.

"Marlene!" Lily called after her, now running down the steps, two at a time.

"Leave me alone!" Marlene called behind her shoulder, her heel catching on the second to last step.

Falling forward, her eyes widened as her body came in contact with the ground.

She lay there, upset and annoyed with herself as she brought herself to a sitting position.

Lily immediately was at her side, wrapping her arms around Marlene's shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Marlene whimpered, as she struggled in an attempt to get away from Lily.

"Stop..leave me alone..." Marlene miserably uttered, flailing her arms around in an attempt to push Lily away.

Lily grabbed hold of her hands, stopping them from their erratic movements. "What has gotten into you? What's the matter?"

Marlene crumbled, tears springing from her eyes again. "I-I'm sorry..I..I don't know what's wrong with me."

Lily fell silent, running her hand up and down Marlene's back. "It's okay, you're going through a lot probably."

"But..I'm not.."

Lily shot her another concerned look.

"I mean..so what? I have to give Lexi back to my parents, they're going to be bloody furious at me. And now, Diggory is following me around where ever I go..and and" she paused, releasing a soft hiccup.

"L-Lupin is sending me mixed signals..first he looks like he's going to kiss me..and then he acts as if we're friends...and ..and I'm not sure with myself. And t-the next t-thing I know I a-act as i-if I'm in love with t-the guy! I'm not sure if ..if I like him or not..I'm ..I'm confused!"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, taking in what her friend was saying. "Maybe Lupin's just confused himself. I can speak to him, if you'd like"

Marlene released a shaky breath, shaking he head. "No..it'd only make it worse." she responded as she got to her feet.

Lily peered up at her for a moment, before getting up.

Wiping at her eyes with the palms of her hands, Marlene sighed. "Can I use your owl to tell my parents about Lexi?"

Lily nodded as she gave Marlene a hug. "Of course" she whispered as the two began walking back up the steps to the common room.

Looking over at Marlene, Lily murmured the password as they were asked, both of them walking into the common room again.

Lily nodded as her eyes flickered up to the staircase. "You can write the letter up there. It might be better, too, there's some second years who seem to keep staring at you."

Marlene's eyes flickered over to the small second years who immediately looked away with giggles.

"Come on." Lily uttered as she seized Marlene's arm. With a gentle yank, the two of them walked up to the girl's dorms.

As they entered, Marlene tumbled over to her bed and sat. Turning towards her bag that had remained untouched on her bed, and took out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"What should I say?" Marlene asked as she looked at Lily out of the corner of her eye.

Lily remained hushed as she took a seat on Marlene's bed. "Just tell them what happened."

Marlene paused for a moment and nodded.

Looking down at her parchment, she brought the quill towards it and began to write.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_ I have some horrid news. I few days ago, as I was walking Lexi around Hogwarts but..she kind of ran away. Don't freak out! She's found and is okay. But..I wasn't the one who found her. Someone brought her to Professor Dumbledore. I'm not in trouble, but he has requested me to allow you to take Lexi home. She's not allowed at Hogwarts anymore. I'm sorry. You'll have to come by tomorrow, since it's Saturday and we have no classes. Come around in the morning, please. I'm sorry._

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Marls_

"Done." Marlene murmured as she passed the letter to Lily.

As she skimmed over the letter, she nodded. "It's good; here I'll get my owl to send it. You go on to dinner."

"But.."

"No no, just go. I'll meet up with you." Lily stood up with the letter in hand and went over to the window.

Marlene remained sitting for a moment before she reluctantly got up. "I'll walk slow." Marlene joked as she left the girl's dorms.

After a few minutes, just as she was about to enter the great hall, someone grabbed hold of her wrist.

"Prince, is it?."

Marlene hesitated before turning around to face the black haired, hook nosed boy. With the green slytherin tie around his neck, his eyes seemed to glower at her.

"Sever-.." she paused, as she suddenly remembered what he had said to Lily and chose to say his last name. "Snape?" she muttered, curiosity dripping from her voice.

He brought a hand up and pushed back some of his black hair. His eyes flickered behind her and next to her. "Lily." He began. "Where's Lily?"

Marlene rose an eyebrow. So he still was infatuated with her? "Why do you want to know?"

Taking his hand away from her wrist, he shot her a look. "She seems to be hanging around with you and I wanted to know if she was still angry with me."

Marlene paused, turning to look behind her for a moment. "I would think, yes."

he hesitated, seeming as thought he was looking through her and grumbled. "Tell her I'm sorry. I didn't mea-"

Marlene stared at him with a slightly surprised look as she cut him off. "I don't think she will accept your apology. You called her a_ mud-blood._ After all this time, I think it's a lost cause, Snape."

He watched her for a moment and shoved past her with frustration. "Fine." he retorted.

Marlene turned slightly to watch him. With a dazed and slightly confused expression, she turned towards the Great Hall and pushed open the door.

A few glances were shot towards her way as she slipped into one of the seats at the Gryffindor table.

Just as she was about to grab a piece of chicken, a small third year nudged her shoulder and began to make crying noises, his friends laughing the whole time.

"Oh woe as me! I lost my dog because I'm such a rebel." the boy wailed, a smirk pulling at his lips.

His friends laughed, now making whining and crying noises all the while.

Marlene's face slackened for a moment before sending them all a deathly glare.

"I suggest you shut up before I report you all." The voice of Lily suddenly threatened from behind as her eyes flickered with anger.

The boys snapped their heads to her, slightly stunned and surprised.

"Get a move on, then." Taryn growled, sending them a deathly look of her own.

Marlene paused, before grinning at the two girls after the boys left. "Blimey, thank you. You girls need to teach me how to be so scary." she joked.

Lily smiled as she slide into the seat next to Marlene, Taryn on the other side.

"Hey guys..I'm sorry." Marlene began suddenly with a guilty look across her features.

Taryn hesitated, putting down the piece of chicken she had just grabbed. "For what?"

Lily turned her head towards Marlene, tilting it ever so slightly to the side in question.

"I've been..over dramatic the last few days. I've been snappy at you both and cry about everything. I'm sorry."

Taryn released the breath she had been holding and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm almost certain there was a time Lily and I were like that."

Lily scowled, sending a playful glare Taryn's way. "She's right, actually. Marlene, you're probably just going through a phase, or something."

Marlene shrugged her shoulders meekly. "I suppose you're right. Let's pretend..this drama and everything never happened, right?"

Taryn laughed. "What happened?"

Marlene rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Watch it."

After a short dinner, the girls retreated to the girl's dormitories. They were greeted with the tapping of the window by Lily's owl.

"Marlene, it's probably your parents." Lily mused as she went to the window to collect the new letter.

Marlene groaned. "Blimey, I'm nervous.

Taryn laughed quietly as she sat on her own bed. "Oi, Lily, have you finished your essay yet?"

Lily responded with a curt nod as she handed the letter to Marlene.

Near

Looking down at the letter in her hands, Marlene took a seat on her bed.

Taryn released a playful whine, shoving her piece of parchment towards Lily.

Lily rolled her eyes, taking a seat next to Taryn on her bed.

"Can you just read over it? I'm not sure if I like it." Taryn drew out, furrowing her eyebrows together.

Lily nodded with a smile and began to read, bringing a silence to the room.

Marlene reluctantly brought her attention back to the letter and scanned her mother's writing:

_Marlene Christopher Prince! _

_How could you be so careless and lose poor little Lexi? _

_At least she is alright, I suppose. I should have never let you bring her, but your father was too nice._

_That's enough of me being strict, dear. Please, next time, if you ever do something like that..Don't._

_Thank Merlin Professor Dumbledore let you off with a warning. Hopefully this will help you open your eyes to be more cautious, dear. Your father and I will be there around eight in the morning. We love you, sweetie, and we'll take great care of Lexi. Hugs and kisses! _

_Mum:)_

Marlene slowly put the letter down and released a yawn. "They'll be by around eight tomorrow."

Taryn nodded and snorted. "Where's Lexi anyway?"

Marlene shrugged. "Professor Dumbledore told me he had to keep her."

"Blimey, I can imagine him playing with a puppy." Taryn joked as Lily laughed.

"I'm going to sleep." Marlene abruptly murmured as she walked to the loo to throw on her pyjamas.

Taryn and Lily looked at each other for a moment before nodding their head. "Okay.."


	9. Pumpkin Juice

"Marlene, wake up. It's almost eight." Lily whispered, gently shaking Marlene's sleeping form.

Marlene groaned in reply, her eyes slowly opening.

"Come on, get up if you want to be able to say goodbye to Lexi."

Marlene sat up slowly, her hands springing up to her eyes. Gently rubbing away the sleep residue that resided there, Marlene muttered some non-coherent string of words.

With a lazy glance, she peered over at Lily and groaned. "You're dressed already? Come on..no fair.." Marlene whined, laying back against the sheets.

Lily put her hands on her hips as Molly Prewett made her way over to the bed. "Come on, Marlene. Up and at 'em!" Molly exclaimed.

Lily grabbed both of Marlene's hands and pulled her up, much to Marlene's dismay.

Marlene croaked is protest as Molly threw the covers back.

Marlene glared in response as Lily pulled her out of the bed.

Barely fumbling to her feet, Marlene was forced into the loo.

"Now, get dressed." Lily instructed as she shoved some clothes in Marlene's arms.

"Bu-"

Before Marlene could object, Lily slammed the door shut.

Grumbling to herself, Marlene turned the shower on.

* * *

><p>Marlene stared numbly at her shoes, which had suddenly become much more interesting. Her mother and father sat on either side of her as Dumbledore clasped his hands together on his desk. The room remained silent, save for Lexi's soft panting.<p>

"Is there anything you can do to punish her? So that she knows what she did was wrong?" Marlene's mother, Alice, asked.

Marlene snapped her head over to her mother with a gaping mouth. "Mum!"

Dumbledore laughed, the sound booming across the room like a drum.

"Well." he mused, leaning back in his chair to think. "I could give her a detention."

Marlene held back a groan as she placed her head in her hand.

Her father, Gerald, patted Marlene's knee and gave her a faint smile to reassure her.

Her mother on the other hand remained silent as she nodded her head. "Yes, that would work."

Marlene whimpered, glaring over at her mother.

"Now now, Miss. Prince. Being calm is best." Dumbledore proclaimed.

Marlene flickered her gaze towards Dumbledore and nodded sheepishly, embarrassed.

"Well, then. I believe we're done here." Marlene's father spoke as he rose to his feet.

Marlene's mother and Dumbledore both stood up afterwords, Marlene waveringly getting to her feet

"It was a pleasure to meet you both." Dumbledore stated, bringing his hand out to shake both of the parent's hands.

Marlene gingerly petting Lexi, who sat on Dumbledore's desk and kissed her nose. "I love you, Lexi. See you when I get home." Marlene murmured as her mother picked up Lexi in her arms.

Smiling down at her daughter, she hugged Marlene with her free arm. "I love you, sweetie. I'm sorry, I just wanted you to know what you did was wrong."

Marlene nodded, smiling meekly. "It's alright. I love you too mum."

Her father bent down and gave her a quick hug. "We love you, Hun."

Marlene grinned now and nodded again. "I love you too, guys." she murmured embarrassed since Dumbledore stood a few feet away.

"Well, I should be going to breakfast now." Marlene muttered as she gazed up at Dumbledore.

He smiled, nodding his head. "You may leave." he said.

Giving her parents one last hug, and one last kiss to Lexi's nose, Marlene jogged out of the room.

She released a full blown sigh, glad to be out of the awkward room.

Afterwords, however, she found herself going to the common room. She somehow felt breakfast was over by then. She wasn't even hungry.

A few minutes after entering the room, Lily had made her way over to Marlene. "Hey, how did it go? At least you don't have to hide Lexi anymore."

Marlene shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I suppose. It was bloody awkward, though. Oi, and..ugh, my mum asked Dumbledore if I could get punished! Now I have a detention."

Lily snorted, patting her friend on the back. "Maybe..it wont be that bad? All you have to do is sit there."

Marlene nodded with a sulk. "I know but..a detention! I feel like..like a rebel of some sort."

Lily laughed, looking behind Marlene. "I'm going to get my book from my bag upstairs," she muttered, as she acknowledged the girl's dorms with a jerk of her chin. "Be right back."

Nodding, Marlene snickered as Lily bounded up the stairs.

A sudden, familiar voice spoke out behind her, startling her. "Hey, I uh, overheard you telling Evans about Lexi." He paused and continued. "I'm sorry you had to give her back to your parents. Evans told me about it after you left the common room grumbling this morning."

Twirling around at the voice, she found herself chuckling as her eyes laid upon Remus. "Yeah, it's for the best, I guess. I'm just a bit sad, not having her around anymore."

He paused for a moment as a small smile crept onto his face. "Hey, I know some rather fun lot who really cheer me up when I'm...upset."

Hesitating, she looked towards the stairs leading up to the girl's dormitories and bit her lip. "Er, I'm not sure, Lily might.."

Before she could finish, he grabbed her hand and began to pull at her arm. "Come on, they really have good intentions at heart, I mean your roommate Taryn hangs with us all the time and she's not.._infected_ or whatever it is you bird seem to think will go wrong with you."

She released a dramatic sigh and nodded her head with a smile; unable to shake off the sudden butterflies that erupted in her stomach.

As they walked over to the crew, Marlene saw that the Marauders and Taryn were occupying the couch and two arm chairs that sat by the fire.

James sat in on of the armchairs, his legs thrown over the side of an arm with his head leaning against the other. His glasses slopped down his straight nose, his hazel eyes gleaming as he watched Lily take a seat in the back with her book she had grabbed. His lips twitched ever so slightly when she gets up again to mouth off a couple of misbehaving third years. He clutched his wand in his hand, absentmindedly twirling it.

Peter sat on the far side of the couch, facing the fire as he quietly munched on a sugar quill.

Sirius sat on the other arm chair next to the fire, sitting normally as his girlfriend, Taryn, sat on his lap. His arms snaked around her waist as her arms were linked around his neck, her own legs dangling over one of the arms of the chair. Her face , snuggled against his shoulder as he pivoted his own face to her, both practically forehead to forehead as they both mutter things to each other on and off, both laughing ever so often.

Remus, still holding Marlene by the hand , pulled her over to them. Marlene's clearly nervous form faltered as she watched Taryn's current position and couldn't help but smile, remembering just the last time she'd seen the couple. Allowing her to sit down, they both fill up the rest of the large couch; Remus next to peter and Marlene by his left.

James let out an exaggerated sigh, his eyes leaving Lily for a moment. "How come two of my best mates have birds and I can't get mine!" he muttered, giving a playful pout.

Remus's face instantly flushed. "Wha-? No, Marlene's not my-"

"Maybe I can get Lily to hang out with us." Marlene cut in, her gaze flickering from Remus to James.

James squinted at her and grinned, showing his teeth. "Really?"

She hesitantly nodded her head. "Sure."

Taryn looked up from her snogging for a moment and gave a suggestion. "Why don't we all go on a friend kind of thing together down in Hogsmeade?"

Sirius cocked his head to the side in confusion. "But we can't go, the trip going there isn't today."

Taryn rolled her eyes at the boy. "You bloody prick, _I know_ you know a secret passage way."

He gave a smirk in reply. "You do have a point."

Standing up, Marlene glanced over at James's slumped form on the chair. "Well, I'm going to see if I can convince Lily to come."

Before he could reply, she walked away from the couch, and waltzed over to Lily who was seated in the back.

She tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, um Lily? How would you like to go to hogsmeade with me and ..um.." She paused as Lily narrowed her eyes at her.

"But..the trip to Hogsmeade isn't today." Lily began, sending a puzzled look Marlene's way.

Marlene nodded in response. "I know..but well uh, Lupin asked me..if I wanted to spend time with..with the Marauders. And Taryn! So it's not that bad. And I ..kind of agreed. And ..we're going to all go to Hogsmeade; They know the secret passageway to get there..Potter would like you to come with us. I would too. So..uh please?"

Lily's eye twitched. "You expect me, a former prefect, to be with _them_ and go to Hogsmeade _secretly_? I don't think so, Marlene_. _You shouldn't either."

Holding her breath, Marlene wasn't sure what had come over her. She felt like she _needed_ to get Lily to come or she would end up disappointing everyone. "Well, I thought you liked to do fun things. I didn't know you were a.." She paused, searching for the right word. "prude..?"

Lily's eye twitched as she glared up at Marlene. "I am _not_ a prude! I just..it's not right! And I will not hang out with them! What are you, barking mad, Marlene? You know I don't like them. And when did you start being friendly with them?"

Marlene faltered for a moment before placing her hands on her hips. "You have a point, but I thought you'd like to have _some_ fun or something. And what's one little hang out with them going to hurt? It's not like I hang with them all the time. Oh, and Taryn is with them a lot and nothing is wrong with _her_. Please, Lily, _please_."

Lily remained silent, fighting with herself. Suddenly, she threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "Fine! I'll go with you and those bloody pricks!"

Marlene grinned and practically dragged Lily out of her seat and over to couch. James, who at this moment seemed giddy like a child on Christmas morning, beamed at Marlene as a silent thank you.

After quietly whispering the details of where to go and such, they each stood up.

When James whipped out his Marauder's map, much to his dismay, he almost got hit by Lily.

"What is _that?" _Lily had screeched as she saw it.

After large amounts of bickering and teasing, they arrived. Popping the lid open to the secret entrance in Honey dukes, they all jumped out and dusted themselves off.

Lily sighed. "Blimey, I can't believe I'm doing this."

Marlene couldn't help but laugh at the look on Lily's face as she patted her shoulder.

Peter's quiet, scrambling self made its way to a candy counter, pointing at random assortments of candy.

Patting him on the back, Sirius playfully grinned. "Oi, Worm tail, don't choke on all that candy now."

Not even listening, Peter shoved some candy into his mouth.

Taryn laughed as Sirius curled his arm around her waist and grinned. "We're going to look around the shops and stuff. See you guys later." He stated as the couple walked out of the shop.

Lily, looking utterly out of place, crossed her arms as she watched them leave. It wasn't helping as James was basically begging her to hang out with him. After a few minutes, and a bit of bickering, she growled and relented, sending Marlene a deathly glare as they walked out.

After the two of them left, it only left Remus and Marlene and basically Peter who was rolling around in candy near the back of the shop.

"Well uh, would you like to go to the shrieking shack?" Remus suggested.

Marlene shrugged and nodded. "Sure, that sounds interesting." She replied and grinned.

They silently walked out of the shop, as a gush of wind hit them both.

Marlene shivered at the impact of the wind and walked out onto the paved ground as Remus began leading her to the Shrieking shack.

Craning her head to look over at him as they walked, she gave a shudder. "Do you really think the Shrieking Shack is haunted? People say they hear screams and stuff; Taryn made me go with her in our...first year, I believe, to see if we could hear it. We heard it but I freaked out really fast." She laughed at the memory. "Have you ever heard it? It's creepy."

He swallowed dryly and shrugged. "It's probably not haunted. I uh..never heard any of the screams people say they hear.."

"You haven't? Why, you and I outta check it out when the full moons out. You know, because everyone says that's when they hear the screams." she joked, nudging his ribs with her elbow.

"No! We can't! I mean.. I'd get..too scared." He nearly shouted as she shot him a curious look.

"Oi, sorry Lupin, I was just kidding." she apologized as she gave him a reassuring smile.

Nodding his head slowly, he gave a shallow sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

After a short silence, they came to a stop in front of the fence. Looking at the locked up gate, Marlene glanced at Remus. "It's locked."

Jumping over the fence, he smiled at her. "You can jump over the fence, I'll help you." he offered, grabbing her hand as she jumped over the side of the fence. Dusting off her shirt, she smiled at him in thanks and looked up at the boarded up house.

"We uh, can't get in, though." He lied, knowing well enough they could have gone through the secret tunnel.

She nodded, looking up at the creepy looking building. Bending down, she grabbed a rock and threw it at one of the boarded windows.

Glancing over at her, Remus opened his mouth to object but shut it.

"It'd be cool if we heard the howling and screaming, wouldn't it?" Marlene mused as she threw another rock at a window.

He shrugged and picked up a rock as she did and rolled it around in his palm. "I guess."

"Why here?" She asked after a short silence, shooting him a side glance as she sat on the ground.

Looking around him with a glazed look upon his face, he shrugged. "It's a familiar place for me." he murmured.

Deciding not to question it, she nodded. "Oh." she muttered as he took a seat next to her.

"Hey..let's play a game." she began she laid back slightly with her elbows propping herself up.

"What game have you got in mind?"

"This..muggle game Lily told me about in 2nd year. I believe it's called..20 questions."

He paused, turning his head towards her. "Oh? What do you do?"

Her eyes flickered up in thought as she suddenly nodded. "I ask you 20 questions that you have to answer, and then you ask me."

He chuckled. "That doesn't seem very entertaining."

"Oi! Shut it! It will let us get to know each other more." she defensibly muttered with an embarrassed smile.

He smirked, nodding his head towards her. "Okay, ask away."

"Okay, um..what's your favorite color?"

"Red."

"Ah," she mused, as she grabbed a lock of her hair. "Hmm, when's your birthday?"

"March 10th."

"Okay, Um..."

He suddenly snorted, turning his head the other way to hide his smirk.

"What?" she mewled, crawling towards him slightly to see his face.

"I'm sorry but this 'game' is absolutely horrid." he stated with a chuckle.

She smirked as she released a laugh of her own. "I know..it is bad isn't it?"

He nodded with a smirk of his own. "Do you have any other games?"

"Hmm, how about..Never have I ever?"

He rose an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Well, you or I state something that we never done before, and if you have, you raise one finger."

He paused for a moment. "And then what?"

"Um..I'm not sure."

They both burst out laughing suddenly.

"You're a horrid game picker." Remus stated between laughter.

"Well, aren't you rude!" Marlene shot back between giggles.

After their laughter had sided, they each stood up.

Turning her head to the side to crack her neck, Marlene yawned. "How about we get back? I'd like to get some candy at Honey dukes before everyone gets back."

Remus nodded, and escorted her over to the gate. Jumping over it, he then offered his hand to her to help her over.

Soon after, they began to walk.

"Too bad we couldn't hear anything." She mused.

"Would you stop bringing that up?." he murmured with a roll of his eyes.

Her face turned pink as she bit her lip. "I'm sorry! I just, Oi, Sorry."

He shrugged his shoulders, bringing them to a silence.

"So..what about this weather?" he asked awkwardly.

Marlene rose an eyebrow at him, rolling her eyes with a snort. "It's delightful."

He chuckled, squinting his eyes as Honey dukes came into view. "How about we race? Who ever gets to Honey dukes last has to pay for candy."

Marlene grinned, nodding her head with excitement. "You're on!"

"Ready..Set..."

Before he could finish, Marlene dashed off, leaving a string of laughter behind her.

"H-hey! No fair!" he called, running after her.

In a matter of seconds, he was caught up to her, a triumphant grin upon his features.

Playfully, she shoved him to the side as she tried to run faster.

"Hey!" he growled with a snicker as he caught up to her again.

Suddenly, they both ran side by side as they both tried to enter the shop.

Both shoving shoulders, Marlene ran in, as Remus, being the gentleman he was, didn't want to shove her too hard.

Waving her arms in the air, Marlene began laughing. "Ha-ha! I did it! Looks like you have to pay, now!"

He crossed his arms with a playful frown. "No fair, you kept shoving me."

"Whoa. Moony, who knew you had it in ya?"

The pair suddenly tensed. Remus looked behind Marlene with wide eyes, as she hesitantly turned. Lily, Taryn and the rest of the marauders stood there.

Peter, Taryn and Sirius sat on the floor, with Lily crossing her arms, leaning against the wall. James, of course, stood by her side.

Sirius seemed proud, James seemed surprised and...Lily seemed dumbstruck.

"Y-your shirt, Marlene. Why is some of the top unbuttoned?" Lily asked with such force, that James took a slight step away from her.

Looking down quickly at her button down blouse, Marlene's face reddened. "It must be from running. Maybe it unbu-"

Lily marched up to Marlene with a stern look, her voice dropping to a low snarl. "This was a horrible idea. How could you do something like that with Lupin!"

Marlene's eyes widened, her hands numbly fumbling with the top buttons. "We didn't do anything, it was from running! Why would I do anything like that with him?"

Sirius barked out laughing. "Ouch, Moony that had to hurt."

Remus, face flushed red, began to sulk.

Lily stared over at Remus for a second and turned on her heel. "Fine, whatever. Let's ..let's just go back."

Shortly after, everyone got to their feet and was ready to leave,

Marlene still caught Lily glowering when James brought out the Marauder's map, making her snicker.

After they were safely back at Hogwarts, Taryn and Sirius somehow coaxed Marlene and Lily to follow them up with the rest to the boy's dormitories.

Taryn and Sirius sat on his bed, James and peter on James's bed and Remus on his own.

Lily remained standing with her arms crossed as Marlene took a seat next to Peter, feeling somewhat awkward.

"Why'd you want us up here?" Lily asked, noting the gleaming look in Taryn's eyes.

"We have some pumpkin juice for you all. The trip coming back here was tiring, no?"

"Where did you get some pumpkin juice?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We bought it, when we left you all." Sirius responded as if it was obvious.

"Here." Taryn murmured as she put her hand in the pouch she was carrying and gave one to each person.

Looking down at the juice, Marlene flipped the top off and took a small sip before furrowing her eyebrows with disgust. "Why does it taste different?"

After taking a gulp of her own drink, Taryn wiped at her mouth with a grin. "It's just a new flavor."

Peter suddenly squeaked beside Marlene, his eyes squinting. "Doesn't t-this t-taste l-like.."

Sirius suddenly kicked his shin, resulting in an upset cry from Peter. "It's just a new flavor, okay?"

James squinted his eyes at his drink, his eyes flickering over to Lily. "Dinner's already over with?"

She paused and nodded, looking out the window from the corner of her eye. Taking a huge gulp of her drink, Lily released a smooth sigh.

Remus, being as quiet as he was, put the cap back on his drink. "Allll gooonne.." he sang with a dreamy looking grin.

Lily's eyebrow twitched, sending Remus a confused glance as she gulped down the rest of her drink.

Sirius began to chuckle as Taryn laughed out loud, knowing full well what was going on.

"You..you know what? I..I want to dance." Marlene suddenly announced, standing up. Waving her arms around her head as if she was crazy, she began to sing Hogwart's school song. "Hogwarts Hogwarts! Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something pleeeeeeezzzzeeeee!" She suddenly stopped, releasing a string of laughter and tumbled on the floor. Her pumpkin juice fell to the floor after, empty.

James began laughing, pointing at Marlene as Peter rolled around on the bed, sucking out every last drop of the drink.

Lily crawled on James's bed, pushing him backwards. "You~ knnow what, Potttterrrr? You're vuryy sexyyy." She drew out, licking his cheek.

"Oh Merlin, I love youu~." he muttered out, flinging his finished pumpkin juice behind his head.

Taryn and Sirius remained hushed, now running their fingers through eachother's hair, kissing as if it was the last day on Earth.

Marlene remained laughing continuously on the floor as she grabbed another Pumpkin juice from Taryn's satchel, drinking every last drop. "That is sooomeee bloody good stufff." she announced, throwing another drink at Remus and Peter.

Peter, after finishing his second drink, stood on James's bed and peeled his shirt off, waving it above his head.

With a swift kick to the back of the knees by James, Peter tumbled over onto the floor, giggling like a madman.

Marlene continued to giggle, releasing her hair from it's bun. "Remmussss, get up and dance!"

Grasping his hands, she shoved him up and wiggled his body, both of them giggling like small children.

Life suddenly went black for Marlene, her mind barely registering anything that she was doing.

* * *

><p>Lily's eyes slowly opened, her body physically hurting, her brain feeling as though it was pulsating against her skull.<p>

She turned over slightly against the sheets, her body coming in contact with someone's chest. She suddenly froze. "No..no..no.."

slowly, she flickered her eyes up towards the person's face.

Glasses. black hair. Smug look on his face..

Lily suddenly erupted in a scream, so loud that the whole school must have heard.

Pushing her hands hard against his chest, she shoved James off the bed.

He tumbled off the bed, groaning as he hit Marlene who was on the floor and broke his fall. She squealed from under him, flailing around.

Remus jumped up, before laying back down with a loud groan. "What the.." he moaned out, his head feeling as though it'd burst.

Peter remained unmoved, dozens of empty bottles of pumpkin juice around his head.

Taryn and Sirius lay under the covers, clothed, in Sirius's bed, both tangled up with each other.

Marlene scooted away from under James, looking around frantically. "What..what happened?"

Lily, shaking with anger, screamed again.

"Oi, stop screaming, Evans." James groaned from the ground, crawling onto the bed again.

"Potter, I don't think you shoul-" Marlene warned as he was punched by Lily.

"What have you done! You..you...you _prick!_ How dare you?" she cried out, punching and slapping James.

James meekly tried to stop her, but to no avail.

Marlene, jumped up, shoving James away from Lily.

"Lily! We don't know what happened, I doubt Potter knows what happened! Calm down! You're clothed! Blimey, it would have been a lot worse."

Lily's eyes softened, crossing her arms as she glared at James.

Remus stood up, painfully making his way over to Marlene. "Do you know..what happened?"

Marlene shook her head, but paused. "Wait."

"What?" Lily asked, rubbing at her eyes. "Taryn. And and...Black. They gave us those drinks! They must have did something."

Peter, finally waking up, giggled. "You g-g-guys didn't realize it?"

"What? What did they do..?" Marlene asked.

James suddenly smacked his forehead, wincing as he did so. "Those pricks.."

"What? What did they bloody do?" Lily asked in exasperation.

"They probably spiked our drinks." James muttered, glaring at Sirius and Taryn's form.

"They wouldn't.." Lily murmured with anger.

"You obviously don't fully know them, Evans." James stated quietly, shaking Sirius awake.

"Hey.." Sirius muttered with a rub of his forehead.

"Arse." Remus grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

Peter suddenly squeaked, covering his mouth. "I-I don't feel g-good."

"Dear Merlin.." Marlene groaned as Peter hiccuped, upchucking his stomach all over Sirius's bed and all over poor Taryn.

She screamed awake, scratching at Sirius's arm frantically as warm vomit swam around on the quilt.

Marlene covered her face, Remus winced, James snickered and Lily nearly cried from all the events going on.

One thing's for sure, never accept a drink from Sirius or Taryn.


	10. Announcement

A/N: Hello! As of now, I'm going to change the point of view in my story. It will no longer be 3rd person, but 1st person. I feel that it will be more easier to be able to see what Marlene is feeling and such. I hope you all enjoy it! It you don't like it, you don't have to read it. (; Thanks!


	11. Lily's Shirt

"How do you know it was us." Sirius gnarled, tumbling out of the bed to avoid the vomit that were now soaking through the quilt.

James pointed his finger at his friend and puffed his chest out. "Because..because it would be something you two would do."

Taryn glared, shoving the unconscious Peter, who laid in his own pool of vomit, off the bed. As she got to her feet, I noticed with slight amusement, that her once lush, blonde waves that always seemed to cascade down her back was now standing at awkward angles.

Looking at the others, I suddenly noticed how hilarious Remus looked. His hair that always seemed to be combed, was matted and messy. I've got to admit, it actually looked well, good. His eyes drooped; his mouth set with a confused frown.

James, well James seemed flustered. Probably from waking up next to Lily. His hair was messy and unkempt, no surprise there. His glasses seemed a bit slanted forward, his lips slightly twitching.

Lily was spacing out and silent, a blush across her cheeks. Her red hair framed her face; the covers covering her chest. I suddenly realized with a slight pang to the chest that she must have been shirtless. Looking up towards her eyes, they seemed to be focused on nothing with a glare.

Turning my head, I avoided looking at Peter and my eyes roamed over to Sirius.

He sat on the ground, criss-crossing his legs. He was lazily looking up at James, Remus and I.

Sirius didn't seem so phased by all of this. His eyes seemed bright, and his body was somewhat perky. He's probably used to waking up to a hangover.

I suddenly snorted, leaving my thoughts for a moment as the guys looked at me.

I cleared my throat, peering over at James through the side of my eyes. "How _do_ we know they did it?"

"They gave us the drinks." Remus responded for him, kicking an empty bottle of pumpkin juice.

"But it's pumpkin juice, there isn't any alcohol or anything in it." I interjected.

Lily sighed from the bed, my eyes flickering over to her.

"They probably spiked it, like Potter said before."

James beamed at the words of him being right, by Lily nonetheless as he suddenly squinted his eyes at Taryn who stood on the other side of the bed. "Am I right?"

She remained quiet, her eyes switching to me.

"I didn't want you to be sad and stuff since you gave Lexi back." she confessed.

James groaned, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Oi, come on! You lot had fun, didn't you?"

"Loads."

I had to bite my tongue to hold back from laughing at Lily's comment.

Sirius finally decided to stand up, rubbing at his eyes with the backs of his palms. "Well, we've done no harm here."

Lily scoffed, her flaring eyes snapping towards Sirius. "No harm? If you both did no harm, then why the bloody hell was I in bed with Potter without my shirt?"

Taryn winced, looking over at Sirius for a split second. "We didn't think, well, _that_ would happen."

Lily frowned, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation. "Bollocks! You weren't thinking! Now, help me find my shirt."

"Um.." Remus suddenly began. He sat squatted next to Peter's dirty form on the ground to see if he was alright, and noticed a flash of white around Peter's neck that he couldn't recall if he had seen the day before.

"Evans, I..uh.." Remus fumbled over his words, shaking Peter slightly. "Your..your shirt. It..it wasn't white, was it?"

I glanced over at Lily again to see her give a curt nod. "Yes, why? Did you find it?"

Remus seemed to wince, as Sirius suddenly released a barking laugh, standing over Remus and Peter.

Getting down on my knees next to Remus, I squinted at the white fabric that wove around Peter's neck and bit my lip.

Remus and I switched uneasy glances as I tried to tug the shirt from Peter.

"It ..it seems that your shirt is around Peter's neck." Remus muttered.

"Bloody hell, Evans. It looks like James wasn't the only one getting some last night." Sirius teased.

Taryn rolled her eyes, smacking Sirius upside the head for his comment.

Lily crossed her arms, glaring at the pair as I meekly took my hands away from Peter's neck as he stirred a bit. "It's gross, there's..vomit..all over him and there's some on the shirt."

Remus looked at me for a moment, before Lily released a disgruntled cry.

James meekly patted her shoulder, before getting his hand smacked away.

"I'm leaving, Marlene, come on! Taryn, you can stay here for all I care!" Lily yelled.

I blinked, looking over at Remus in a silent plea as I waveringly got to my feet. Grasping Taryn's arm, I whispered into her ear. "I think you should avoid Lily for the rest of the day, she's not going to light up for a while. Sleep here tonight."

Pulling away, she reluctantly nodded.

Walking over to Lily's side, I peered over at everyone else.

"How are you going to walk to the Girl's dorms without a shirt, Evans?" James asked.

Lily opened her mouth but shut it, shaking her head. "I'll..run."

I snorted, and I even noticed Remus give a tiny smirk.

Lily snapped her gaze up to me with a glare as I meekly shrugged.

"How about you wear my shirt?" James suddenly asked.

Lily just about laughed in his face. "Wear _your _shirt? In your dreams, Potter."

I rolled my eyes and bent down towards her ear in a whisper. "Just accept his shirt, Lily. Do you want to get out of her with your bra on? I don't think so. Bite back your ego and just say yes."

As I pulled away, Lily glared at me with such force, that I nearly choked on my own spit.

"Fine." Lily gnarled, glaring at me as she flickered her eyes over to James.

His eyes instantly lit up, beaming like an excited child. Clawing to get his shirt off, Lily shook her head quickly. "No! A clean one, please."

He paused, walking over to the trunk in front of the bed and threw her one of his white undershirt button-ups.

Inspecting it for a moment, she peered over at James and the rest and frowned. "Um..look away?"

Taryn rolled her eyes as she and Sirius tried to wake up Peter along with Remus and James pouted, but turned around nonetheless.

Covering my eyes, I listened as Lily shuffled with the shirt and muttered my name when she was done.

Opening my eyes, I couldn't help but smirk at her sulking state. She was also standing up. The shirt was loose on her, hanging slightly at her hips.

James smirked at her as he turned around. "Well, what do you say, Evans? I think it looks quite good."

Lily glared at him, her cheeks reddening. "Shove off."

Grabbing my arm with what seemed like talons, she dragged me away from the room before I could even muster out a goodbye.

As fast as ever, she jogged up the steps towards the girl's dorms, me trailing behind.

As we entered the room, she flew onto her bed and cried out into her pillow in frustration. "Screw that Potter! And Black! Screw them all!"

Molly, who sat on her own bed, widened her eyes and looked at me. I just shrugged, sitting next to Lily and patting her back.


	12. Detention

My Punishment. Words cannot describe how much I wanted to scream at my mother at the moment.

Lily walked on the other side of me, every so often, catching a glimpse of me.

"Detention shouldn't be that bad, Marls." She began. "Just smile at Professor Slughorn a lot and be charming, as usual of course, and the next thing you know, you'll be out of there."

I groaned in response, twirling a piece of my hair between my fingers. "I'm nervous, though. What if there's future evil guys in there or something?"

Lily laughed, the laughter seeming to bounce off the walls. "Don't worry, it'll be okay." She paused. "Okay..I have to leave you here I guess. Good luck." Lily murmured as we both came to a stop in front of Slughorn's classroom.

"Maybe I should skip it or something.." I murmured as Lily suddenly racked her knuckles against the wooden door.

I stared at Lily with my mouth agape. "Lily!"

She smiled meekly and patted my shoulder.

"Ahh, Hello Miss Prince! Welcome welcome, please take a seat!" Professor Slughorn greeted as he flung the door open.

My eyes flickered over to Lily to see her begin to edge herself away.

As I turned towards Slughorn, I opened my mouth to speak but stopped, hearing Lily's footsteps running down the hall. I, on the other hand, ended up childishly whimpering as Professor Slughorn ushered me inside the classroom.

Beaming at me, Slughorn shut the door behind me and pushed me towards some desks. "It is strange to see you here, you don't seem like the one to act out, Miss Prince."

I gave a small, meek shrug. Scanning around the classroom, my eyes instantly fell upon Remus. Well, it wasn't only him, of course. Sirius sat with his feet on the desk, looking up towards the ceiling, James had his hand buried in his hair, fumbling with a quill and seeming to be bored as ever. Peter, well, Peter was asleep.

A few other teenagers sat at other desks, a dark haired girl, almost like a female Severus, sat a few rows away from the boys, seeming non too pleased.

Another young girl with blonde hair, sneer on her face, seemed as if she was ready to kill someone.

A couple of other boys were scattered across the room, bored and most likely sleeping.

And then there was Me.

Sheepishly, I walked over to the Marauders, hesitating ever so slightly as I took a seat between Remus and James.

James peered over at me, paused, and then snickered. "Whoa, Prince? Never knew you were a badars-"

Remus suddenly cut in, glaring slightly at James. "Are you here because of Lexi?"

I nodded with a sigh. "My mum asked Professor Dumbledore if I could get punished."

"Ouch." Sirius stated from the other side of James.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"Excuse me, no talking! This is a detention after all." Slughorn called towards us.

I was the only one who nodded. Sirius actually snorted.

Deciding to be quiet, I leaned forward in my seat, pressing my chin against the table. I then released a bored sigh.

Remus watched Slughorn for a moment, and leaned back in his seat so he could grab James's attention.

James cocked his head to the side and rose an eyebrow at his friend. "What is it, mate?"

Looking again at Slughorn, Remus leaned in close slightly to James.

"I don't really think Marlene should be here, how about we..I don't know, break out?"

James paused, thinking it over and shrugged, turning his head towards Slughorn.

"Sounds like fun." James mused, nudging Sirius with his elbow and began to whisper his plan.

James then leaned forward slightly in his seat towards me, his eyes flickering up towards Slughorn. "We're going to break you out of here."

I turned towards him slightly with a confused look upon my face. "What?"

Professor Slughorn suddenly dropped a potion he was making, splattering it over his shoes. "Oh dear.." he breathed, turning towards us gain. "I'm going to have to clean my shoes up before the potion gets down to my toes! That wouldn't be very good to witness, no. I trust you all will behave while I'm gone." he stated, sounding somewhat stern as he wobbled out of the classroom.

Sirius stood up with a snort, sending a lopsided grin my way.

I couldn't believe it. Talk about coincidence!

I stared at Sirius with wide eyes as Remus grasped my forearm and pulled me up. "Come on, we're going to show you how us Marauders spend our detentions. Peter's going to keep guard for us."

Just as Remus was dragging me away, I caught a glimpse of Peter and nearly laughed in Remus's face. "He's still asleep, you know."

Just as I said the word asleep, Sirius shoved Peter awake, rather roughly too.

Peter awoke with a snort-like sound, looking around the classroom. "Whaaa?"

James, now getting out of his seat, bent down towards Peter. "Hey, keep watch for us, okay? We're going to break out of here. We'll give you a sugar quill later for watching out."

Peter hesitated, thinking it over and nodded his head. "O-okay!"

James quickly took the Marauders map out of his back pocket and opened it up. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

The map instantly showed where everyone was by marking them with footprints. Even though I saw it before, I couldn't help but be interested with the map.

"Okay, Slugghorn is in the loo. Dumbledore is in his office and..Well we're safe." James stated as he squinted at the print.

Looking up towards the other people in the room, Sirius paused. "You never saw any of this."

The girls rolled their eyes as the boys shrugged.

Still not letting go of my forearm, the three boys then sneaked out to the hallway, me being dragged behind.

Every so often, we'd have to stay still and silent as a teacher would pass by.

Once we were far enough away, Remus let go of my arm and grinned. "Well?"

I beamed at him and nearly squeezed him with a hug. "Thank you guys so much." As I broke away, Sirius coughed from beside me.

I chuckled, wrapping my arms around Sirius's middle, and then James's. I pulled away after making sure I hugged each of them and grinned at them all. "Thank you both, too."

Remus smiled meekly, as James and Sirius beamed as if they won an award.

"Well.." James began, stretching his arms. "I'm going to see what Evans is doing and see if she's mad at me."

Sirius snickered. "What makes you think she wouldn't be?"

James rolled his eyes, shoving Sirius slightly. "You guys have fun. See ya."

Both of them strolled out of the hallway snickering. I had a slight gut feeling they did it on purpose, leaving Remus and I together.

I turned towards Remus and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks again. It was sweet of you all, really."

He shrugged and began walking, me trailing next to him. "I just thought it wasn't fair that you had to go to detention."

I shrugged. "Tell that to my mum."

He chuckled in response. "Do you feel up to going to the astronomy tower?"

I nodded quickly, if not too quickly, as I turned my head towards him. "That sounds fun."

After walking up steps for what seemed like ages, we finally got to the tower.

I instantly walked over to the balcony, leaning against the railing.

It was a rather beautiful day, the sunlight seeming to dance across the grass and trees. I noticed however, that with each breath I took, I could see the white puff of air leave my mouth. It wasn't surprising, as Christmas was beginning to creep by soon.

Remus took his place beside me, one arm dangling over the railing as his other hand gripped the railing. "I hadn't realized it would be so cold." He mused.

I shrugged, leaning my elbow on the railing as I placed my head in my hand. "It's refreshing, I think."

He nodded slowly, avoiding my gaze. "What are you doing for break this year?"

I shrugged again. "Maybe go home..or Lily's...I'm not sure yet."

"Oh." He paused. "Sirius and I are going to James's house." he began, turning to look at me for a moment.

"What about Pettigrew?"

"His mum wouldn't let him. His parents can be a bit strict at times." he sniggered.

I smirked, brushing some of my hair away from my eyes. "Want to go back to the common room?" I suggested.

He nodded, turning around and following me as we walked out of the tower.

"I hate steps." I grumbled as the clicks of our shoes sounded around us.

He didn't respond, or talk for that matter until we returned to the common room. After saying the password, we both walked in.

A few stray fifth and fourth years were lazing about the room. My eyes flickered over to Lily who sat on one of the armchairs near the fire with a book. James and Sirius sat on the ground in front of the fire, Peter covering the whole couch as he lay down. Taryn, of course, was there too. And in Sirius's arms.

Remus and I both walked over to the group, me stopped at Lily as he took a seat on another armchair.

Lily looked up from her book to see me looming over her and rolled her eyes. "Someone's been a rebel today, no?" She asked with a slight edge.

I paused, and nodded. "You heard?"

She nodded. "Sadly. These two wouldn't shut up."

I laughed, and she smiled slightly, looking back down at her book.

"Please?" I turned towards Sirius's voice to see him practically begging Taryn to join him at James's house.

She shook her head. "No, Sirius. That would be..weird. I'd only be surrounded by guys."

Sitting on the ground next to Lily's chair, I watched with slight amusement as Sirius began to pout like a child.

"Come on, it'd be fun!" Sirius began.

Taryn still shook her head, crossing her arms. "There wouldn't be any girls. Well, besides James's mum, but that doesn't really count."

James rolled his eyes, seeing the desperate state his friend was in. "Okay, why don't you bring one of your birds along?"

Taryn nodded, turning towards Lily. "Lil-"

"No."

Taryn paused, glaring at Lily for a moment before turning to me. "Marrrleennnnee? Will ya?"

Both of my eyebrows rose in surprise. "That would be okay with you?" I asked, looking over at James.

He nodded.

I shifted uncomfortably, pulling at my hair. "I..uh..My parents. I'd have to ask them first."

Sirius beamed, Taryn released a relieved sigh and Remus seemed to perk up.

Lily only scoffed.

I rolled my eyes at her with a teasing smile as I stood up.

"I'll owl my mum."

"Okay, make it quick!" Taryn stated.

I rolled my eyes again with a chuckle as I bounded up the steps towards the girl's dormitories.


End file.
